While the American public obsesses day after day about each and every scandalous act involving an athlete in the NFL, with even the most meticulous data being collected and analysed many times over, they seem to be less concerned about a similar, possibly more widespread, pattern of behavior by officers of the law, the same people entrusted with ensuring public safety and accountability. After several arrests occurred in the past month alone of police officers accused of sexually assaulting, kidnapping, or raping multiple women (four of them in Oklahoma), many observers are quite rightly inquiring about how common such crimes committed by law enforcement officers are. Unfortunately it is rather impossible to say for certain how common sexual assault by cops truly is because there exist no national database from which accurate statistics can be derived. In fact this nation has shown itself particularly inefficient when it comes to tallying or keeping track of any crimes committed by cops, let alone taking the further of holding them accountable. If a national debate can ensue around the issue of domestic battery and criminality in the National Football League, then surely it should be possible to have that same debate regarding issues of rape and sexual abuse in the nation’s police departments.

After police arrived on the scene of her Tallahassee, Florida, neighborhood, 62-year-old Viola Young asked them why they were there. Told to turn around, Young did so and walked away. While walking away, at just about 2:31 in this video shot by a local resident, the officer brutally uses his stun gun to tase Young in the back. Immediately, she falls flat on her face. It’s brutal.

No charges have been brought and the officer is currently on paid leave.

In 1978, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indan Tribe, declaring that American Indian Nations could no longer exercise jurisdiction over non-native offenders who commit crimes on tribal lands. Although the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (“VAWA”) in March 2013 restores a portion of the jurisdiction that Oliphant stripped away to American Indian Nations, VAWAspecifically excludes 228 federally recognized tribes in Alaska. Consequently, as a result of Section 910 of VAWA 2013, Alaska Native women remain the only group of Native women whose tribal governments cannot protect them. To learn more, read: www.sliverofafullmoon.org

In July, 51-year-old Marlene Pinnock was walking on the side of a California highway when aCalifornia Highway Patrol officer threw her to the ground and began brutally beating her in the face. That officer, Daniel Andrew, has not been subject to any disciplinary action but he has been placed on “non road patrol duty”, and CHP says its investigation is ongoing.